Power and data may be provided from one electronic device to another over cables that may include one or more wire conductors, fiber optic cables, or other conductors. Connector inserts may be located at each end of these cables and may be inserted into connector receptacles in the communicating or power transferring electronic devices.
These connector receptacles may be located in openings in enclosures of electronic devices. Some devices may contain several such connector receptacles, some of which may be of the same type while others may be of different types. To save space and simplify manufacturing, in some circumstances it may be desirable to combine more than one connector receptacle into a single unit. Such a unit may be referred to as a combined connector receptacle.
Various problems may arise when connector receptacles are gathered into a combined connector receptacle. For example, it may be difficult to align multiple connector receptacles to openings in an enclosure of an electronic device. This may be true where various surfaces of the combined connector receptacle are oblique to each other.
Also, contacts in each connector receptacle may convey high-speed signals along with power supplies and other signals. The high-speed signals may have relatively fast edges having high-frequency signal components that may generate electromagnetic interference (EMI.) This EMI may couple onto other high-speed signal contacts, as well as power contacts and contacts for other signals, in the same or other connector receptacles in the combined connector receptacle. This coupling may in turn corrupt and degrade signals, that is, lower the signal quality or signal integrity, in the same or other connector receptacles. Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide isolation between connector receptacles in a combined connector receptacle. Further, it may be desirable to provide isolation among contacts in an individual connector receptacle in a combined connector receptacle.
Thus, what is needed are combined connector receptacles that may be aligned to openings in a device enclosure, may provide isolation between individual connector receptacles, and may provide isolation among contacts in an individual connector receptacle in a combined connector receptacle.